A woman was forced to jump from the first floor of a building along Leopold Takawira Avenue, between George Silundika Street and Fife Street in Bulawayo, after it caught fire on Wednesday afternoon.
A man was taken to hospital by a private ambulance to be treated for suspected smoke inhalation.
It was one of four fires the Bulawayo Fire Brigade had to deal with yesterday.
Firefighters battled a veld fire near the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), while another team attended a fire in Newton West. A third team was called to a veld fire in the Gumtree area.
Bulawayo chief fire officer Mhlangano Moyo said the city centre fire was reported by a Bulawayo City Council employee who saw smoke billowing from a building opposite his office window at City Hall.
“We received a call from a colleague who works at City Hall who said he had noticed smoke coming out of a building opposite his workplace, so we have reason to believe that the fire had spread throughout the building before it was reported,” he said.
“It took the teams’ eight fire engines and two bowsers carrying additional water to put out the fire.”
Moyo confirmed that no one was injured in the inferno, which destroyed the building that housed students renting rooms on the first floor and several businesses on the ground floor.
“We observed several gas cylinders that we believe were being used by students who rented rooms on the first floor, although our investigations are yet to determine the cause of the fire. We will know the definite cause of the fire by tomorrow,” he said.
Businesses operating on the ground floor include a bar, restaurant, pharmacy and a company that books clients for outdoor activities around Matopos National Park and other safari and nature destinations.
A group of onlookers joined hands to catch a woman who was forced to jump from the first floor of the burning building as she tried to escape the blaze.
One of the rescuers said she had no other option but to jump into their arms as the fire spread through the building.
More: Chronicle
